Sampras briefly turns back clock

CHICAGO – Astute readers of the sports section and watchers of “SportsCenter” may have caught it. Of those who did, some may even have taken it seriously.
Pete Sampras, 36, who won his 14th Grand Slam title five years ago, then retired from the pro tour, defeated No. 1 Roger Federer in the final of their three-match Asian exhibition series last Saturday, 7-6, 6-4. Federer won their first two matches 6-4, 6-3 and 7-6, 7-6.
But Sampras turned around and beat Federer.
Sampras plays Todd Martin tonight at the UIC Pavilion in the FedEx Tennis Shootout, and if you think a little less hair and two kids have taken any of the competitive fire from the seven-time Wimbledon champ, well, think again.
“I had a moment walking off the court when I thought I can still play today,” Sampras said a day after returning from China.
There are those who think he should – that tennis is in desperate need of the kind of drama that the best and last serve-and-volleyer in the game could provide. For those who may have forgotten, Sampras’ greatness was often mistaken for dullness.Federer, who at 26 already has won 12 Grand Slam titles and deserves to be called one of the all-time greats, is smarter than that.
“I think if (Sampras) was still playing today, he would be a top-five player,” Federer said.
For Sampras, who held the No. 1 ranking for a record 286 weeks and finished on top a record six consecutive years, fatherhood and golf were enough to keep him going for 2 1/2 years after he retired in 2002.
“I put on some weight, I saw a picture of myself and that was the pivotal moment,” he said. “I was like, ‘What happened to me?’ My face looked full. I said, ‘I don’t want to be one of these athletes who puts on 30 pounds,’ so I changed my eating habits, started playing basketball twice a week.”
He began playing serious tennis again.
“If I have a day when I don’t play tennis, I have no focus, I’m a little restless, a little bored; my day is too open,” Sampras said. “That’s why I started playing, just to give me a little balance.”
It also gave him a little incentive to play competitively again. Martin saw Sampras’ victory over Federer and knows firsthand Sampras’ level of play, having lost to him three times in the Outback Championship Series, a top-level 30-or-older circuit.
“It was plainly obvious how well he was playing. … The type of play that would still be competitive with those who play the game at the highest level,” said Martin.
“Pete has this weapon that honestly is probably in the top five of all serves right now. His serve is unchanged from when he was the best.”
“It was very difficult to read,” Federer said.
But to come back to the tour at 36, even for just one more Wimbledon, Sampras draws the line.
“In a romantic sense, it might be a big shot in the arm of the sport, and it would make news, but it’s not worth it for me.”